Youth project review highlights value of peer recruitment

A five-year appraisal of the Big Lottery Young People’s Fund noted that staff working on projects consistently highlighted the value of peer recruitment and word of mouth in effectively reaching young people.

The finding comes from an assessment of projects paid for by the fund since 2004, providing activities for more than 700,000 children across the UK in that time.

The fund focused on supporting projects providing activities for the disadvantaged and vulnerable young people – some targeted and some universal.

In England, in total, around two-thirds (61 per cent) of projects reported reaching young people living in deprived areas, with more than half (56 per cent) managing to engage with young people at risk of exclusion.

Due to an "absence of targets and standardised measurement indicators", the evaluation was not able to conclude whether universal or targeted provision was more effective at engaging the hardest to reach.

But it did find that peer recruitment was key to engaging the most hard to reach.

"Vulnerable and marginalised young people are more likely to trust friends and other young people as a source of information and advice than they are adults," a summary of the evaluation states.

The study also found that the projects had a "significant positive impact" on young people taking part.

"Benefits included increased confidence, improved relationships, more proactive engagement, communication skills and increased achievement and learning," the evaluation states.

"These benefits met, and in many cases exceeded, the expectations of young people."